@article{RohmerDobritzTuncbilekDereetal.2022,
  author    = {Rohmer, Carina and Dobritz, Ronja and Tuncbilek-Dere, Dilek and Lehmann, Esther and Gerlach, David and George, Shilpa Elizabeth and Bae, Taeok and Nieselt, Kay and Wolz, Christiane},
  title     = {Influence of Staphylococcus aureus strain background on Sa3int phage life cycle switches},
  series = {Viruses},
  volume    = {14},
  journal   = {Viruses},
  number    = {11},
  issn      = {1999-4915},
  doi       = {10.3390/v14112471},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-297209},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {Staphylococcus aureus asymptomatically colonizes the nasal cavity of mammals, but it is also a leading cause of life-threatening infections. Most human nasal isolates carry Sa3 phages, which integrate into the bacterial hlb gene encoding a sphingomyelinase. The virulence factor-encoding genes carried by the Sa3-phages are highly human-specific, and most animal strains are Sa3 negative. Thus, both insertion and excision of the prophage could potentially confer a fitness advantage to S. aureus. Here, we analyzed the phage life cycle of two Sa3 phages, Φ13 and ΦN315, in different phage-cured S. aureus strains. Based on phage transfer experiments, strains could be classified into low (8325-4, SH1000, and USA300c) and high (MW2c and Newman-c) transfer strains. High-transfer strains promoted the replication of phages, whereas phage adsorption, integration, excision, or recA transcription was not significantly different between strains. RNASeq analyses of replication-deficient lysogens revealed no strain-specific differences in the CI/Mor regulatory switch. However, lytic genes were significantly upregulated in the high transfer strain MW2c Φ13 compared to strain 8325-4 Φ13. By transcriptional start site prediction, new promoter regions within the lytic modules were identified, which are likely targeted by specific host factors. Such host-phage interaction probably accounts for the strain-specific differences in phage replication and transfer frequency. Thus, the genetic makeup of the host strains may determine the rate of phage mobilization, a feature that might impact the speed at which certain strains can achieve host adaptation.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{GerovaWickeChiharaetal.2021,
  author    = {Gerova, Milan and Wicke, Laura and Chihara, Kotaro and Schneider, Cornelius and Lavigne, Rob and Vogel, J{\"o}rg},
  title     = {A grad-seq view of RNA and protein complexes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa under standard and bacteriophage predation conditions},
  series = {mbio},
  volume    = {12},
  journal   = {mbio},
  number    = {1},
  doi       = {10.1128/mBio.03454-20},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-259054},
  pages     = {e03454-20},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {The Gram-negative rod-shaped bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa is not only a major cause of nosocomial infections but also serves as a model species of bacterial RNA biology. While its transcriptome architecture and posttranscriptional regulation through the RNA-binding proteins Hfq, RsmA, and RsmN have been studied in detail, global information about stable RNA-protein complexes in this human pathogen is currently lacking. Here, we implement gradient profiling by sequencing (Grad-seq) in exponentially growing P. aeruginosa cells to comprehensively predict RNA and protein complexes, based on glycerol gradient sedimentation profiles of >73\% of all transcripts and ∼40\% of all proteins. As to benchmarking, our global profiles readily reported complexes of stable RNAs of P. aeruginosa, including 6S RNA with RNA polymerase and associated product RNAs (pRNAs). We observe specific clusters of noncoding RNAs, which correlate with Hfq and RsmA/N, and provide a first hint that P. aeruginosa expresses a ProQ-like FinO domain-containing RNA-binding protein. To understand how biological stress may perturb cellular RNA/protein complexes, we performed Grad-seq after infection by the bacteriophage ΦKZ. This model phage, which has a well-defined transcription profile during host takeover, displayed efficient translational utilization of phage mRNAs and tRNAs, as evident from their increased cosedimentation with ribosomal subunits. Additionally, Grad-seq experimentally determines previously overlooked phage-encoded noncoding RNAs. Taken together, the Pseudomonas protein and RNA complex data provided here will pave the way to a better understanding of RNA-protein interactions during viral predation of the bacterial cell. IMPORTANCE Stable complexes by cellular proteins and RNA molecules lie at the heart of gene regulation and physiology in any bacterium of interest. It is therefore crucial to globally determine these complexes in order to identify and characterize new molecular players and regulation mechanisms. Pseudomonads harbor some of the largest genomes known in bacteria, encoding ∼5,500 different proteins. Here, we provide a first glimpse on which proteins and cellular transcripts form stable complexes in the human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We additionally performed this analysis with bacteria subjected to the important and frequently encountered biological stress of a bacteriophage infection. We identified several molecules with established roles in a variety of cellular pathways, which were affected by the phage and can now be explored for their role during phage infection. Most importantly, we observed strong colocalization of phage transcripts and host ribosomes, indicating the existence of specialized translation mechanisms during phage infection. All data are publicly available in an interactive and easy to use browser.},
  language  = {en}
}